as not mistaken; and I will gladly
remain in Pianura long enough to give your Highness such counsels as my
experience suggests; but that business discharged, I must ask leave to
go."

From this position no entreaties could move him; and so fixed was his
resolve that it confirmed the idea that he was still a secret agent of
the Jesuits. Strangely enough, this did not prejudice Odo, who was more
than ever under the spell of de Crucis's personal influence. Though Odo
had been acquainted with many professed philosophers he had never met
among them a character so nearly resembling the old stoical ideal of
temperance and serenity, and he could never be long with de Crucis
without reflecting that the training which could form and nourish so
noble a nature must be other than the world conceived it.

De Crucis, however, frankly pointed out that his former connection with
the Jesuits was too well known in Pianura not to be an obstacle in the
way of his usefulness.

"I own," said he, "that before the late Duke's death I exerted such
influence as I possessed to bring about your Highness's appointment as
regent; but the very connections that favoured me with your predecessor
must stand in the way of my serving your Highness. Nothing could be more
fatal to your prospects than to have it said that you had chosen a
former Jesuit as your advisor. In the present juncture of affairs it is
needful that you should appear to be in sympathy with the liberals, and
that whatever reforms you attempt should seem the result of popular
pressure rather than of your own free choice. Such an attitude may not
flatter the sovereign's pride, and is in fact merely a higher form of
expediency; but it is one which the proudest monarchs of Europe are
finding themselves constrained to take if they would preserve their
power and use it effectually."

Soon afterward de Crucis left Pianura; but before leaving he imparted to
Odo the result of his observations while in the late Duke's service. De
Crucis's view was that of the more thoughtful men of his day who had not
broken with the Church, yet were conscious that the whole social system
of Europe was in need of renovation. The movement of ideas in France,
and their rapid transformation into legislative measures of unforeseen
importance, had as yet made little impression in Italy; and the clergy
in particular lived in serene unconsciousness of any impending change.
De Crucis, however, had been much in France,